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5 Conversations at Bond Café
12 International thinkers
26 Think back
28 How to spend an inheritance

15

18

IT IS said that if you sit outside a café

on La Canebière, the main boulevarde
in Marseille, France, for long enough,
you will see the entire world walk by.
Sometimes, Bond University’s Gold Coast
campus can feel much the same.
The process we understand to be
globalisation, during which communities
across the planet establish progressively
closer contacts, has been going on for
centuries. But it is only in the past few
generations that it has truly taken wing.
More recent developments in technology,
air travel and communications have
fueled the process, and our world today
is more ‘interconnected’ than it has ever
been. Political elections in one nation
can impact the financial markets of
another within seconds. Commodities,
skills and intellectual property skim
across continents. Laws are being enacted
at an international level. And ideas,
languages and pop culture transcend vast
geographical borders.
In this context, today’s business, political
and social leaders must fully understand
the ‘interconnected’ world in which they
live, and the many cultures that help to
form it, in order to succeed.
As my colleague Professor Raoul
Mortley, Dean of the Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences and former

Vice-Chancellor, points out in our story
‘Small World, Big Lessons’, “No business
leader or political leader can survive in
a monoculture.”
Bond University is producing the world’s
future leaders, so it is vital that we provide
our students with a truly international
learning experience. With this in mind,
our curricula are infused with global
perspectives; our academic staff-members
are of diverse international backgrounds;
we provide numerous opportunities for
international study and work experience;
and our students themselves represent
more than 80 different nations.
After they graduate, many of our
international students return to their home
countries, and a number of Australian
students head overseas to live and work.
Today, the international education
and experience they received at our
University has enabled these Bondies to
carve out successful niches for both their
professional and social lives in more than
100 countries worldwide.
This issue of The Arch celebrates the
Bond students, alumni and teachers who
represent what it means to be, like Bond
University itself, international in perspective
and uniquely Australian in character.

A man was killed at Sydney airport in March 2009 during a biker gang dispute
that escalated out of control, and the frightened public clamoured for action.
Several governments have imposed or considered strict new laws to prevent
gangs from meeting. But Bond University’s Chair of Criminology, Professor Paul
Wilson, says the answer lies in intelligence and mediation, not repression.

ANTI-BIKER gang laws

04

good progress in curbing crime among biker groups by smart,
intelligence-led policing, without draconian laws. Let’s not forget
like the Crimes (Criminal
that in Queensland we have extensive electronic monitoring
Organisations) Act of NSW,
laws and powerful laws that enable crime commissions such as
similar legislation in South
the CMC to compel people to answer questions.
Australia and proposed
In addition, there is now a body of evidence that outlines
legislation in other States,
effective law enforcement practices and crime prevention
are repugnant legislations the
methods that deal with gang-related violence. These include
likes of which we have not
encouraging bike club mediations which, it should be noted, the
seen since the constitutional
clubs have already instigated themselves through the formation
failure of the
of the United Motorcycle
Communist
Queensland (UMCQ).
I
strongly
oppose
these
[biker]
Party
Sadly, despite government
laws: they are unnecessary,
Dissolution
promises of public consultation
Act of 1950.
counterproductive, and shred the
before introducing the tough
I strongly
traditional laws of evidence and
new laws, the UMCQ has not
oppose these
been consulted, nor have any
presumption of innocence
laws: they are
other critics of these measures.
unnecessary,
This is a great pity, because we hardly need our legal rights
counterproductive, and shred
further eroded by laws that punish groups for crimes they might
the traditional laws of evidence and presumption of innocence.
commit in the future, in contrast to laws that target individuals
These laws give courts the power to declare an association a
for crimes they have actually committed in the past.
‘criminal association’, apply control orders against individuals,
and prevent members of declared organisations from meeting.
They allow for secret court hearings at which defendants are not
allowed to hear the allegations against them, and the abolition
of the requirement of proof beyond reasonable doubt.
Yet such measures are likely to make matters worse. Laws
that outlawed motorcycle gangs in Canada in 1997 led to
an avalanche of murders, fire-bombings and the institution
of the State itself coming under attack. Bikers were driven
underground and the violence escalated rather than decreased.
Moreover, the level of violence committed by bikers in
Australia is not as extensive as the media would sometimes lead
us to believe. Recent figures presented to the Joint Parliamentary
Professor Paul Wilson is a forensic psychologist
Committee to review the Australian Crime Commission’s
and criminologist, and Bond University’s Chair of
Serious and Organised Crimes Act by a senior NSW Police
Criminology. Professor Wilson recently returned from
Superintendent and academic Dr Art Veno revealed that gangCambodia, where he observed and is now writing on
related violence, including violence generated by street, ethnic
the genocide trial of Duch, the commander of S-21, the
and biker groups, represented just 0.6 percent of all crime, with
notorious prison where 14,000 men, women and children
biker-related violence estimated to account for half of that again.
were incarcerated, interrogated and tortured.
And there are alternative courses of action to prevent gang
violence. Other countries, Denmark being one, have made

Conversations

at Bond Café
From Bengali politics to multi-billion dollar corporations,
Bond University’s new Chancellor Helen Nugent has
successfully navigated diverse careers. Here, she shares a little
of that journey with The Arch.

I STARTED my career as a historian and my doctorate

the things I enjoy is talking to students, even joining them at
the Bond Café. The sense of community they passionately talk
about is extremely heartening. It is something we must work
hard to retain.

is in Indian history, specifically Bengali politics from 1935 to
1947. However, my teaching was in a broader field. At the
University of Queensland, I taught courses in the history of
Asian civilizations, covering India, China, Japan and southeast Asia.
After 10 years of teaching, I moved across to the business
sector. I gained my MBA at Harvard Business School in
1982 and in the same year, I joined McKinsey & Company as
an Associate, and ultimately became a partner.
Later, I became Professor in Management and Director
of the MBA program at the Australian Graduate School of
Management (AGSM).
This role, alongside my experience studying at Harvard,
gave me a real insight into what a committed, high-quality
faculty could achieve, and showed me what the very best in
private university education had to offer. This is knowledge
that I can also apply here at Bond.
In my opinion, Bond is a very fine institution that has huge
potential to be truly world class.
For the past 10 years I have been a professional company
director, serving on boards such as Macquarie, Origin Energy
and Freehills, as well as being Chairman of Swiss Re Life and
Health (Australia) and Funds SA, a $14 billion investment
fund of the South Australian Government. Prior to that,
as Director of Strategy at Westpac, I was a member of the
Throughout my career there are two
executive team that turned the Bank
things about which I have always cared
around in the tumultuous early 1990s.
deeply: education and the arts. I have
I now appreciate more fully the
I really gained an appreciation
chaired a number of boards and councils
of Bond and how it contributed to
strong sense of community that is so in both fields.
the diversity of higher education in
Bond University represents a chance for
much part of the Bond experience
Australia when I became a member
me to contribute further to education.
of the recent Bradley Review into the
I am thrilled to take this opportunity.
tertiary sector.
I have my sights set on Bond being world renowned for the
Becoming Chancellor has confirmed my understanding of
quality of student experience, its outstanding and committed
Bond’s outstanding commitment to a quality education.
faculty and staff, and the superior research we deliver in
What I now more fully appreciate is the strong sense of
selected fields. I am up for that challenge and I think my
community that is integral to the Bond experience. One of
colleagues on the Council are as well.
Spring 2009

05

Biker gangs:

Campus

Research

Growing and transplanting the
mandible was the product of 10 years
of research, but Warnke says this was
relatively simple compared with what
is to follow. Bone is a single tissue to
cultivate. To grow an entire organ, such
as a liver or a kidney, is an infinitely
more complex process. But that is
the goal.
The waiting list for organ transplants
stretches into the hundreds of
thousands, worldwide, and thousands
of patients die while they wait. If
Warnke can learn to grow replacement
organs, many thousands of lives will
be saved.
In addition, using the process to grow
replacement bone and tissue parts (such
as joints) lessens the operative burden
and avoids the creation of secondary
skeletal defects in the patient, caused by
the process of harvesting bone grafts.
How, then, are these ‘home grown
parts’ created?
A human embryo starts with one cell,
gradually increasing and growing more
complex during nine months in the
womb and then over the course of the
person’s life. Scientists do not have the
luxury of this time.
“You can’t start with one cell to grow an organ because
this takes 17 years or so until you have the full size of an
adult kidney or liver, and the patient doesn’t have this time,”
Warnke says. “Somehow, a replacement organ has to be
grown in one year or two years’ time inside the body, so we
have to be fast.”
To gather enough stem cells to start to grow an organ,
Warnke harvests tissue that the patient has a lot of, such as
skin or immune (competent) cells. Then, “you have to change
at least four little gene sequences in the cell to develop it
backwards, so that the adult cell turns into a baby stem cell
again.” Just a square centimetre of skin cells changed in this
way can generate thousands of stem cells.
“Then,” says Warnke, “it starts.”
If the stem cells are not told what kinds of cells to become,
they simply disappear into the blood stream and are washed
away. Therefore, Warnke is developing a kind of ‘remote
control’ to create niches, or homes, in which the stem cells
can settle down.
In the case of the mandibular replacement, Warnke and his
team used three-dimensional CT (computed tomography)
scans and computer-aided design techniques to create an ideal
virtual replacement for the mandibular defect. They used this
data to create a titanium mesh cage inside which the bone
was grown, and the whole was ‘incubated’ in the
patient’s back.
“We might use the patient’s own stem cells, for example,
floating around in the blood. Or we extract stem cells from
the patient, prior to surgery. For example, we extract stem
cells from the bone marrow, then we re-inject these stem cells
into the patient after we have done the procedure. The new
stem cells settle down inside an artificial matrix in the shape
of the desired organ, which we also implant into the patient,

and our ‘remote control’ guides the
stem cells to find their correct place.”
This research is very much creational,
Warnke says. His group was the first
to have achieved such a remote control
process with bone. Now, Warnke is
on the path to doing the same with
complex organ cell structures. But it
could take another 20 or so years.
“We are increasing the hurdle piece by
piece. The mandible took us 10 years to
make. Now we are working on joints.
More complex tissue could be another
10 or 15 years after that.”
But sometimes, scientists do get lucky.
In the case of the mandible, Warnke
found that after implanting just a piece
of the bone tissue, the patient’s body
started to integrate the new tissue, and
form bone around it. It’s possible that
Warnke may only have to grow a piece
of organ tissue in the lab, rather than
the whole organ, and then the patient’s
body will make more out of it after it
has been implanted.
Certainly, we know from the human
embryo that the human body is capable
of growing its own replacement organs.
“That is something we always keep
in mind. There is a way, but we have
to find it. There is no GPS existing at the moment, but we are
developing the map for the GPS,” Warnke says.
“I think what’s most exciting is that we are taking the
first step. Like walking on the moon. Discovering the ‘terra
incognita’, the unknown world, is in the nature of man. That’s
what we’re all about.”

Somehow, a
replacement organ has
to be grown in one year
or two years’ time inside
the body

Grow-it-yourself body parts
Transplant patients growing their own new organs?
A Bond University scientist is leading the way in stem cell research
that could literally save thousands of lives.
PATRICK WARNKE, Bond University’s new Professor

06

of Surgery, would have you believe that the stem cell research
he is pioneering is at once like a school, an orchestra and an
expedition into the unknown.
The school and orchestra are metaphors Warnke employs to
try to explain how he and his team intend, via ‘remote control’,
to direct stem cells implanted in the human body to form
themselves into complex human tissue like bones, joints and
ultimately organs, that may then be used for transplants.
He calls the process ‘an expedition into the unknown’ because
that’s exactly what it is: exploratory science.
In 2004, Professor Warnke and a team of European and
Australian scientists grew a piece of bone – a mandible – not
in the laboratory, but in a man: on his back. Essentially, they
created the world’s first ‘human bioreactor’. After seven weeks,
they successfully transplanted that mandible into the man’s jaw
and one month later, the man ate his first solid meal in nine

years (bread and sausages). This was the first time in history
that scientists were able to grow and transplant large pieces of
human tissue.
“Many tissue engineers are trying to grow organs or pieces of
the human body as replacements,” Warnke explains, “but most
of them are doing this in the laboratory. It has been shown that
with this technique, using artificial bioreactors, you are able to
grow maybe sugar-cube sized pieces of tissue or bone. But that
is all, because you have a lack of blood supply to the
artificial bioreactors.”
What makes Warnke and his team’s achievement such an
exciting breakthrough is that by using a human - rather than
an artificial - bioreactor, they are paving the way to grow large,
complex, replacement body parts. If they are successful, they
could effectively do away with the need for the organ transplant
waiting list, saving and transforming literally thousands of lives,
now and for centuries to come.

Teaching at
Bond University
German-born Professor Patrick Warnke joined
Bond as Professor of Surgery in the Faculty of
Health, Sciences & Medicine in 2009.
“Bond is a young, pioneering university, and I think
Australia is much more open and visionary than the
United States and Europe. Working in Australia is a chance
to be one of the first to translate laboratory findings into
clinical practice.
“I love teaching and I’m very used to integrating students
into my research. I had more than 20 thesis students
in Germany, and I motivated them to do ‘non-boring’
research on topics they enjoyed talking about.
“It’s one of the oldest principles in medicine to mentor
pupils. I think it is a great moment to share a beer with
one of your students when they have finished their thesis.
Your pupil has turned into your equal colleague. That is
good fun.”

Spring 2009

07

Professor Patrick Warnke (centre) in
a Bond University laboratory with
undergraduate students Will Cundy
(left) and Sally Buchanan (right)

Education

Can human beings and fish

co-exist?
Where are the world’s great orators? From Aristotle to Obama, good public
speaking has been a key element of leadership for thousands of years.

“YOU CANNOT be a great leader without great

his natural stammer, he practiced speaking with pebbles in his
mouth. To build up vocal strength, he ran with an open mouth
‘to expand his lungs’. To cure his shortness of breath, he uttered
long sentences while walking quickly up hill. To be heard over
the clamour of the Greek assembly, he would stand in stormy
weather on the seashore at Phalerum and declaim against the
roar of the waves. To gain ‘graceful action’ he would practice for
hours in front of a tall mirror.
And finally, to stop himself from going out and neglecting his
studies, he shaved the hair from half of his head. The fear of
ridicule forced him to stay indoors until it grew back.

public speaking skills.”
These are the potentially controversial words of Assistant
Professor Mike Grenby, who has lectured in journalism and
public speaking at Bond University for more than a decade.
“People need to hear you and look at you, not just read
what you’ve written,” Grenby says. “We’re a very visual
society. We need to see that you’re not just standing there
with your mouth closed or reading subtitles on the screen.
You might be the most brilliant person but if you can’t get
your messages across both in writing and orally, you’re not
going to go too far.”
Global public speaking body Toastmasters International
would concur. “One of the most important
elements of leadership is the ability to
You might be the
motivate people,” the organisation insists.
Furthermore, Grenby says persuasive,
most brilliant person
motivational speaking is essential
but if you can’t get your
to business success. Informing and
entertaining may be relatively easy, he
messages across… you’re
concedes, but persuading somebody to
not going to go too far
change their point of view or do something
Mike Grenby
they might not have considered is difficult,
a psychological skill embedded in oration.

A fate worse than death?

08

The art of public speaking as we know it originated with
the Greeks. The philosopher Aristotle is credited with
introducing the art, while statesman Pericles was said to have
ushered in a ‘golden age of eloquence’ by which he led Athens
for many decades. But it is the weak and sickly Demosthenes
who is remembered as the greatest orator of Greece and,
perhaps, of all time.
Too physically frail to train at the gymnasium or succeed
in battle, Demosthenes instead devoted his entire life to
successful oratory. The ancient Athenians were passionately
fond of public speaking, and ardently cultivated it. ‘Oratory’
to the Athenians meant so much more than reciting a good
and persuasive speech. Skillful oratory was also in the
speaker’s vocal delivery, body language and clever techniques.
Demosthenes improved his mind by reading from the poets
Sophocles and Euripides, the great historian Thucydides, and
attending the teachings of the philosopher Plato. To overcome

Spring 2009

09

The golden age of eloquence

‘Fear of ridicule’ has, it seems, a very
different impact on contemporary would-be
public speakers. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld
once famously quoted studies that found
public speaking to be our No. 1 fear,
trumping even the dread of dying.
“This means to the average person, if
you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the
casket than doing the eulogy,” he quipped.
And then there are those who are not
necessarily afraid of public speaking, but
probably should be. Former US president George W Bush, for
example, was notorious for his oratory mishaps.
“And so, in my State of the – my State of the Union – or state –
my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it. Speech to
the nation. I asked Americans to give 4000 years – 4000 hours
over the next – the rest of your life – of service to America.
That’s what I asked – 4000 hours,” he blundered in 2002.
Or consider the eternally-puzzling but gloriously entertaining
declaration made during Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign:
“I know that human beings and fish can coexist peacefully.”
“He was not good,” Grenby says in a masterful
understatement. “Bush was terrible, people used to pick on him
as an example of a bad speaker.”
Of course President Bush does not hold the exclusive title to
oratory debacle. “This is a great day for France!” proclaimed
President Richard Nixon at the funeral of Charles De Gaulle.
Translations can often add to the confusion. British soldier,
writer and former governor of the Sinai Peninsula, the late
Claude Scudamore Jarvis, told the following story of his
adventures in speaking Arabic.

Education

Mike Grenby’s top tips for
successful public speaking:

10

1. Know and take care of your audience
2. Meet the audience’s expectations
and help people feel better about
themselves
3. What is your message? Sum up your
main points in 10 seconds
4. Public speaking is a conversation with
good eye contact
5. Preparation prevents panic
6. To reduce nerves focus on your
message, not your feelings
7. Be yourself, and be passionate about
your topic
8. Smile and have fun

Oratory boot-camp

Every student at Bond University is required to take a core
subject in either public speaking or communication, if they wish
to earn a Bond degree.
Even those who are not blessed with an innate inclination to
public speaking can be taught, Grenby says, although not quite
in the traumatic manner of Demosthenes’ schooling.
“In a word, ‘encouragement’,” Grenby says. “That’s what
Bond is known for, its pastoral care where you know your
students and really support them. So you know the ones who
are having difficulty and you find ways of getting them up at the
beginning with someone else, so the focus is not just on them.
“You support them and help them and do things in groups.
And week after week if you keep doing it, it desensitises them to
the fear. And after 12 weeks, they can get up and do anything.
Whether they are toga speeches or simultaneous debates, they
can do all those things.
“It’s like boot-camp. You’re all going through it together
and you support each other. We refine those techniques and
approaches semester after semester, and it works well.”

Public speaking in decline?

All this training is not before time. Many believe the art of
oratory, of powerful, persuasive public speaking, is in decline.
Not long after Franklin Roosevelt took US office during the
Great Depression, he instigated his now-famous fireside chats.
“The country was demoralized and frightened, and Roosevelt’s
warm, grandfatherly voice poured into millions of American
homes, bringing a sense of comfort and security,” explain
Brett and Kate McKay in the online publication ‘The Art of
Manliness’. And after Roosevelt, Americans came to expect the
same ‘folksy’ speaking approach from all their presidents.
McKay and McKay believe the reception and praise given to
Barack Obama’s speeches suggest an untapped hunger among
American and indeed global citizens for oratory that will inspire
them and touch their ideals.
However, Australian commentator and Baptist pastor Stan
Fetting strongly disagrees. “Anyone with a team of speech
writers, spin doctors, and auto-cue technicians is a great
performer, rather than a great orator,” he insists. Fetting
laments the death of oration in Australia as well. “Back here

in Australia, the current incumbents
saying, and they are passionate about it,
of Federal Parliament are a dull and
then this conviction will come through
dreary lot when it comes to oration,”
in their speech. Certainly the orators that
he says.
Grenby identifies as ‘great’ are marked by
Grenby is not quite as disparaging
passion and conviction.
as Fetting, but when asked to name
“Churchill was great and powerful,
great orators in Australian politics, he
without needing to scream.
pauses before responding. “I thought
“Even Anthony Robbins inspires and
John Howard was a good speaker.
motivates a lot of people. The man charges
You might not agree with his politics
a fortune and has made a huge business of
but I thought he was an effective
what he does. He’s got passion and you
speaker. I think Kevin Rudd is good in see that.”
his own way too. Our politicians tend
In fact, Grenby believes that passion is
to be fairly reasonable.”
so important to successful public speaking
Grenby says the ‘tall poppy’
that he has changed the way he asks his
syndrome can get in
students to evaluate
the way of Australian
one another’s speeches
oratory excellence.
Bond is known
in Bond classes.
“You don’t want
for
its
pastoral
care
Students are required
to stand out in
to write down what
where
you
know
your
Australia because
they like about the
students and really
people throw things
speaker, what the
at you! Whereas
support them
speaker should work
in America, you’re
Mike Grenby
on, and whether or not
praised for standing
the speaker appeared
up and saying how
nervous. Now, he has added a fourth
good you are. Although Australian
evaluation: “rate their passion from zero
understatement and modesty is in
to five.”
many ways a good thing. America
So what is more important, the method
I think goes almost too far the
of delivery – the passion – or the actual
other way.”
speech? Grenby believes the method
comes first.
“It’s like you sell the sizzle as much as
So what is it that makes a speaker
you sell the steak. And the sizzle comes
better than merely good, effective
first, doesn’t it, and the smell. But if you
or reasonable?
bite into it and you realise it isn’t that
Passion is the key, according to
good, you’re let down. So the delivery is
Grenby, and the mark of a great
important, but if there’s no substance to
orator, “whether it’s high passion or
the speech behind the delivery, you very
from the soul quietly spoken passion.” quickly deflate.”
If a speaker believes in what they are
Order up, Australia.

Bond University
Amphitheatre
The latest addition to Bond’s Gold Coast
campus is the multi-purpose ADCO
Amphitheatre and Alumni Court. With
seating for up to 400, the amphitheatre
will enhance Bond’s strong oral tradition
and create a venue for students and
members of the community to participate
in public speaking, debate, theatre and
artistic expression. The amphitheatre
was partly funded by a generous gift
from ADCO, alongside donations from
alumni, students, teachers, parents,
community members and local businesses
to the Bond University Building Fund.

Sell the sizzle

Spring 2009

11

“I was telling a large gathering of sheikhs about a forthcoming
agricultural exhibition. Unfortunately, I gave the Arabic word
for exhibition marad a short first ‘a’ instead of a long one, and
my audience was horrified to learn that a virulent epidemic was
about to take place.”
And imagine the consternation of former Australian Prime
Minister Bob Hawke’s Japanese audience when his Tokyo-based
interpreter made an attempt at a literal translation of “We’re
not going to play funny buggers with you.”
Thankfully for the Bushs, Nixons, Jarvis’ and Hawkes of this
world, as well as the rest of us who break out in a cold sweat
at just the thought of addressing a room full of eyes and ears,
public speaking skills – and confidence – can be taught.

Campus

News

International

Businesses are in one way the
customers of universities

thinkers

Professor Garry Marchant

They’ve taught in universities across the world, from Auckland to Paris and Bergen
to New York. These four Bond scholars truly think globally and act locally.

Professor Elizabeth Roberts

Professor Neil Kirkpatrick

Professor Garry Marchant

Tina Hunter

International universities:
Cornell University (USA, Australia, France), Chinese University of
Hong Kong (China), Auckland University of Technology (NZ)

Countries:
United Arab Emirates, Australia (Bond University)

International universities:
University of Michigan (USA), University of Texas (USA),
INSEAD (France), University of Connecticut (USA)

International universities:
University of Bergen (Norway)

“I have been most fortunate to gain teaching and
administrative experience through Cornell University in the
US, Canberra and Paris, as well as through my work with the
Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Auckland University
of Technology.
“Given the international nature of the tourism and hotel
management industry, I believe the internationalisation of our
curriculum is essential in order to best prepare our students to
excel in this dynamic, global industry.
“Most Bond students aspire to be leaders, and the ability to
lead in highly diverse organisational settings will require them
to adopt a global perspective, regardless of whether they plan to
work abroad or remain in Australia.
“We internationalise our programs through the diversity of
the School’s academic staff (from Germany, NZ, the UK and the
US), case-based assessments and strong industry ties.
“The opportunity to launch this School is a career highlight
to date. Every time I fly to the Gold Coast and see the skyline,
I realise how fortunate I am to work at a world class university
and live in such a vibrant and dynamic environment.”

“My role at Bond enables me to support students and staff
with my personal perspectives on how their work may be
tailored to meet the needs of the industry.
“I have an opportunity to help students better understand
what will be required of them. I help them learn how to
differentiate themselves in the marketplace to secure a role they
will relish and add value to their new employer.
“Working closely with Bond University is both stimulating and
rewarding. I am a firm believer that it is possible to help shape
the careers of students through the delivery of focused, personal
feedback and direction.
“Much of my work concerns change-management, getting
folks to think in a different way. My work with Bond is part
of that process, both in helping students and staff to think in
a different way, but also in allowing me the opportunity to
continue to develop my own ideas through new perspectives.
“I was personally fortunate to have benefited from working
with a mentor in the early stages of my career, and I very much
hope that the guidance and advice I can offer students will assist
them to achieve their goals.”

“The world has become increasingly smaller and
interconnected during the past 50 years. Today, no matter
what your career, you will be working in a global context and
interacting with people from a variety of backgrounds.
“International insights and exposure also contribute to the
development of an open-minded, flexible thinking process, which
is essential for adapting to a fast-paced global workplace.
“Businesses are in one way the customers of universities. They
consume the main product – graduates – by providing them
with jobs. Universities like Bond work closely with businesses
to understand their needs and deliver programs that ensure that
Bond graduates deliver on those needs.
“Within the university, academic partnerships enrich each
party through the exchange of staff and students, which in turn
helps improve the programs and research of both partners.
“Students benefit from interaction with students from different
backgrounds, and from being taught by staff who come from
a different tradition and way of thinking. Communities benefit
from this diversity of experience, via the rich nature of the
various cultures to which they are exposed.”

“The exposure to international insights is crucial for Australian
students. I went on exchange to the University of Bergen when
I was a law student at Bond and it radically changed my life.
“Academic partnerships are vital for the development of
ideas, the exchange of information, and the establishment of
relationships that will enhance these goals. The relationship
should be strengthened and enhanced so that knowledge and
ideas are freely shared, and students from the institutions are
also able to embark on new experiences.
“For the community, there is the benefit of a new generation
of students that will enter the community with a global
perspective, fresh ideas, and the capacity to generate ideas and
problem solve from a unique perspective.
“Bond is a beautiful campus, but it is not the University’s
external beauty that is its value. It is the people within it. One of
the things I missed the most was my faculty and my colleagues.
The support and knowledge in the faculty is second to none.
“The draw card that bought me back and will keep me here
is the way Bond supports its academics and fosters a collegiate
atmosphere. This is something that we can never lose.”

Adjunct Professor, Mirvac School of Sustainable Development

Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost

Senior Teaching Fellow, Faculty of Law

Spring 2009

013

012

Head of School of Hotel, Resort & Tourism Management

Opinion

Career

Crime&punishment
in Aboriginal law
While painting a major work during a residency on campus at Bond University,
prominent artist and senior Aboriginal lawman Yidumduma Bill Harney talks about
how punishment is exacted under Aboriginal customary law.

14

come together and recognise one another, they can change the
direction everything is heading in.
Whether they go punishing the traditional way, on the
land, or by white law, going behind bars, both parties
when they come together should be recognised.
It takes a while before anybody can be a proper
Aboriginal lawman. Just like the people going to
school, ordinary white school: you start in
kindergarten to seventh grade then eight, ten,
twelve. Then he has to go to the university.
I just been learning in the ‘bush
university’. Never went to school in
my life. But I got a good mind
and when I was a little one in
the bush growing up in the
Aboriginal camp, I was taught
all sorts of things from the
Aboriginal law way. And when
I was a stockman I watch and
study everything.
At the same time I was very
quiet, from the Aboriginal
side and the white man side,
then I start putting all this law
together in my mind. I put those
two laws together
to understand.
When we teach the young
Aboriginal ones about this
Aboriginal customary law, first
we teach him about painting,
normal painting. Later on, he
gets taught by the elders. You teach the young ones in the
bush university schooling all about the painting. Like all these
different circles you can see on the painting, and the shapes of
people sitting in grooves. You teach them what they can take
from it.
The Bond painting is about how the young people can be
punished in Wardaman customary law.
In domestic violence, two or three elders take him out to get
punished in the law ground, outside in the sun with a shady
tree. For one week he’s not allowed to move around, he’s not
allowed to walk out, he’s not allowed to talk.
In the white man law they call it a sentence. In Wardaman
law, we take it and we punish you! When they are looking after
him all week, he comes out and they go up to the law people.

That’s the time he gets served and gets training of the law. He
learns wood-carving, singing, ceremonial decoration, dancing,
ceremonial law.
He walks around to recognise all the different
plants and soils, must learn to treat the plants right,
and mustn’t destroy any country around because
everything is spiritual: leave it in peace.
And then they come back to the shady tree
again, and he talks about it, and we all talk about
it. He stays for maybe one year or six months or
three months. All this time he always has his head
down. He got a thing rigged up on his neck with
string and a little turkey bone or quartz stone, put
together with wax, and he carry that to keep him
down silent. He not allowed to mix with
anyone, he not allowed to walk
out till he got to work.
When time’s up from the law
place, we take him down to
learn in the white man way.
White man training for fencing,
yard building, mustering cattle,
riding horses, breaking in
horses, doing all sorts of things.
When he doing them things he
not allowed to go out of hand,
not allowed to break the law.
Otherwise they get back to the
bush again, back to the law
place. When we recognise that
he can pull through it, we let
him go and he a free man.

Cultural

baggage
Want to sail your career across international
borders? Strategic planning and solid
networking will help you succeed.

Yidumduma Bill Harney

is the last
remaining senior custodian of the law of the Wardaman
people, an Aboriginal nation in the Northern Territory
(NT). He is also an internationally-respected artist, with
works displayed in the National Gallery of Australia,
Federal Parliament and the NT Legislative Assembly.
Harney was an artist-in-residence at Bond University
in September 2009, painting an original work of art on
‘The Law of the Wardaman People’ that now hangs in
the Law building. The residency was part of the Faculty
of Law’s 20th anniversary celebrations for 2009.

Bond alumnus Cameron Andersen
floats a traditional sheep’s-bladder
raft along the Ningxia River beneath
the Great Wall of China

Spring 2009

15

IF ABORIGINAL customary law and white law

Career

develop a migration and employment strategy, says professional
careers advisor Kirsty Mitchell. This applies whether you
intend to travel to work in overseas locations, or you are an
international student hoping to remain and work in Australia.
Mitchell is the Employment Services Manager at Bond
University’s dedicated Career Development Centre, and spends
her days helping students and alumni develop careful plans for
their future careers.
Strategy, forward thinking and planning are integral to
professional and personal success in the international market,
agrees Managing Director of Oncore Group, Brenton
Henderson. Oncore Group is a suite of companies offering
international careers advice and services. For example, Oncore’s
myOE provides free support and guidance to professionals who
want to live and work overseas.
Henderson says the biggest misconception that people hold
when they consider working overseas is that getting work will
be the same process as it is in Australia.
“It is not that it is any more difficult,” he is quick to reassure
international job-hunters, “you just have to learn the new rules
and play the game accordingly.”
The same applies to international students and professionals
who want to live and work in Australia. “Many of Bond’s
international students want to stay on and work in Australia
after they graduate,” Mitchell says. “So we help them develop
a strategy to achieve this goal.”
In fact, so many Bond students hope to live and work in
Australia that the Centre hosts a Migration Information Expo in
the second week of every semester.
“What’s most important to us at the Career Development
Centre is taking students and alumni from where they are at and
helping them get to where they want to be,” Mitchell says. “The
key is that we believe in them. We know them personally and
we understand their goals. We help them plan realistic steps to
achieve those goals.”
When it comes to getting that all-important working visa
and navigating the complexities of overseas immigration law,
Henderson is adamant: go straight to the professionals. “Most
visa agencies offer good information on their websites, and that

Leverage your Bond alumni
networks: there are alumni in
more than 100 countries and they
will each have their own set
of contacts
Kirsty Mitchell

part is free,” he points out. “Also, find a ‘No visa, no fee’ service.
They will ensure that your application is rock solid before it is
submitted. The fee is worth the peace of mind.”

Research the location
Too many people dream of taking their careers to Paris, New
York or Tashkent and assume that things will just fall into place
when they get there, Mitchell says.
“I am constantly amazed at how many people fail to respect
even basic market trends before they pack up and look for work
in a foreign country. And in many cases, they fail.”
A good place to start is Going Global, an online database
that has information on more than 20 countries, including
employment and career information, visa guidelines, job listings
and company listings.
If you are an alumnus, student or teacher at Bond, visit
the Career Development Centre’s online CareerHub (https://
careerhub.bond.edu.au/Login.chpx?ReturnUrl=%2fDefault.
chpx) and log in to start using Going Global.
As a presenter for Getaway China (and three other TV shows),
former lawyer and Bond alumnus Cameron Andersen travels all
over the world for work.
“Before I go to any new country, I look it up on Wikipedia
for summaries of geography, demographics, climate, economy,”
he says. “Travel books are good but they tend to just focus on
someone who’s going to be a tourist, not a business traveller.
“I learn a little of the language. It doesn’t matter how well they
speak English: if you can say ‘hello’, ‘good bye’, ‘thank you’,
‘sorry’ and ‘you’re welcome’, it’s priceless. You have a blast just
saying that to anyone, and it helps break the ice.
“I try to find out what the country is famous for, what they’re
proud of, so that I can talk to them about something that makes
them happy. You want people to feel good about themselves
when you’re talking to them. That way, whether you’re doing
a business deal or filming for TV, they’ll want to help you.”
For Henderson, preparation is all about getting out of your
safety zone. “Watch lots of foreign films with subtitles and try as
much different food as you can,” he says. “Then... it’s all about
having fun!”

“As we tell our customers at myOE, getting a job is a job in
where you are now and in your desired location. Use their job
itself. Work hard and smart until you get that first job in your
boards, access their networks, ask their advice.
new country. After the first role, things will open up and your
“Attend as many national and international conferences as
local experience will put you in good stead to progress your
possible to build up your professional network as well as your
career further.”
industry knowledge,” she says. “Even if you can’t make it to the
Mitchell agrees that by building on and nurturing your
conferences, look online at the lists of attendees: this will tell
existing personal and professional networks, you can generate
you who the key players are in your industry.
a social environment in which it is more likely that you will be
“And don’t forget your local Chamber of Commerce. There
advised of – and recommended for – placements in your goal
are Chambers of Commerce in most regions and cities, and
industry, role and location.
many people overlook these very
“Networks are extremely
useful networking bodies.”
important,” she says. “Leverage your
Bond alumni networks: there are
alumni in more than 100 countries
and they will each have their own set
“What helped me the most when
of contacts.”
I moved to China,” Andersen
Andersen can attest to the value
says, “was that I totally absorbed
of this advice. With a Bachelor of
everything about the culture. I kept
Laws, an MA in Chinese Studies and
an open mind, and – this is the key
an ‘exchange semester’ at Soochow
point – I did not get too caught up
University in China under his belt,
in the expatriate community. That’s
all from Bond, Andersen wanted his
probably one of the main things that
Cameron Andersen
first job to be in a local law firm in
led to my success today.
Shanghai. So he turned to his
“I spent my weekends with my
fellow Bondies.
friends from the office, Chinese
“I went to Bond and asked if there were any alumni who were
people. I’d go out and have dinner and I’d be eating Chinese
partners in law firms in Shanghai. They said there was one
food and we’d have karaoke. And all the while, I’d be speaking
partner in a firm, and they forwarded my resume on to him.
Chinese and getting used to the culture.
“I think that’s the best way. You don’t want to apply for a job
“Once the culture is set, you find that a lot of it flows through
via a website and be jumbled up with all the other applicants.
to your working style. You know how to communicate a lot
The Bondy there forwarded my resume to the founding partner,
better with the other staff, and you can discuss issues better with
and next news I got a call from him. I ended up working there
your clients.”
for three years.
Of course, if Andersen’s methods seem a little extreme, there
“That was the key. Obviously there was some kind of affiliation are still expatriate networks in most countries where you can
with the partner because we had shared Bond experiences: there
find support and advice when you arrive.
was a common understanding in the firm that we’d both been
“Do not be afraid to get along to a new networking function
through the same education. And that allowed me access to the
in your new country,” says Henderson. “If you don’t like the
founding partner, which I don’t think I’d have gained otherwise.”
vibe, don’t go back. And if you’re homesick, find one good bar
In addition to following up on your fellow Bondies, Mitchell
that has a connection to home - food, sport or crowd - but don’t
says to join professional associations for your industry, both
hang out there all the time. It’s all about new experiences.”

I try to find out what
the country is famous
for, what they’re proud
of, so that I can talk to
them about something
that makes them happy

Cameron Andersen:
lawyer to larrikin?

Nurture your networks

16

To find a job overseas, “Network, network, network,” insists
Henderson.
For UK and other Commonwealth countries it can be easier
for Australian citizens, as ‘right of passage’ visas exist. “But
after that, it’s just elbow-grease,” he says.

Absorb the culture

Andersen in Wuzhen, China

“During my law career I was always, on the side, doing
a lot of things that hinted towards becoming an entertainer.
I would be the entertainment for all our annual dinners,
I would even sing Chinese rock songs.
“A friend of mine was the author of a book on old places
in Shanghai, and Getaway asked him to be a guest on
the show to talk about it. He was quite introverted, so he
suggested me instead.
“I became a regular guest and sometimes a host, using my
annual and personal leave, and I did some crazy things.
I went head-to-head with kung fu masters, break-danced
with a group of Chinese nannies…
“When I reached the end of the three-year contract with
my firm, I joined Getaway full time.”

Spring 2009

17

IF YOU want to live and work overseas, you should first

Education

Small world,

big lessons
In today’s global marketplace, infusing tertiary education with an international perspective
can boost business, create leaders and may well help prevent war.

senior teaching fellow in the Faculty of Law – took part in an
exchange to the University of Bergen, Norway. The experience,
she says, “radically changed my life.”
Hunter believes international experience is crucial for students
to gain personal and professional maturity.
“Since Australia has no common borders and is a huge island
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we have no real international
interaction,” she says. “By travelling overseas for study,
students get a sense not only of how big the world is, but also of
how interconnected it is.”
Today’s world order is undergoing a paradigm shift from
once-separate and autonomous communities to what we now
experience as truly interconnected economies, cultures, nations
and individuals. What does this mean for the way we relate to
one another, study, do business and resolve conflict?
Hunter’s colleague and Bond University’s Dean of Humanities
and Social Sciences, Professor Raoul Mortley, believes that
understanding global connections and “moving away from the
narrow confines of the nation state” are important elements of
contemporary education.
“Global education is about interconnectedness,” he says. “In
a previous generation it was more about imposing perspectives
and approaches. Now, it is about receiving messages and
looking for difference where there is apparent similarity.”

The bell tolls for thee

18

‘Interconnectedness’ is a word the world’s education thoughtleaders enjoy using today. Doctor Merry Merryfield, for
example, Professor of Social Studies and Global Education
at Ohio State University’s School of Teaching and Learning,
equates an understanding of our interconnectedness with the
concept of global education.
In a recent interview with online education resource ‘Outreach
World’, Merryfield differentiated between ‘international studies’,
which she described as including “the study of countries and
world regions, languages, international relations, international
exchanges and study abroad,” and ‘global education’, which

“teaches students to see the world through multiple perspectives
of diverse people and purposefully addresses stereotypes of
The Other.”
But business leader and Bond alumnus David Millhouse finds
such distinctions irrelevant to business practice.
“This is jargon,” he insists. “Whether it’s ‘global education’ or
‘international studies’, that’s just academic.”
However, on the importance of getting a global education –
regardless of the language used to define it – both academics and
entrepreneurs agree: it is crucial.
“In practical terms,” says Millhouse, “which you have to be
when you are CEO, interconnectivity or networking or however
you choose to define it comes out of an understanding of
differences, a respect for them, and a thirst for knowledge that
comes out of that.”
Millhouse says this ‘thirst for knowledge’ is critical to building
international connections, adding, “international networking is
a derivative of an underlying intellectual desire.”
And according to Mortley, a thirst for knowledge is alive
and well among Bond’s student body. “We find that students
actually know the importance of a global education and seek
out disciplines such as international relations or international
marketing, which give them a worldwide perspective,” he says.
Human beings have long understood that their
‘interconnectedness’ stretches well beyond their personally
experienced community. When Renaissance poet and
theologian John Donne penned the words ‘No man is an
island’ in his ‘Meditation XVII’, his wonderful expression of
global connectivity inspired generations of poets from Ernest
Hemmingway to Simon & Garfunkel.
‘All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when
one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but
translated into a better language; and every chapter must be
so translated...’ Donne insisted, more than 500 years ago.
Therefore, ‘Ask not for whom the bell tolls,’ he challenged the
world, ‘it tolls for thee’.
Few today would disagree with this sentiment; in fact, it is
truer now than at any time in history. The advents of air travel,
the World Wide Web and global broadcast capabilities have
brought human beings closer together than we have ever been.
Spring 2009

19

AS A law student at Bond University, Tina Hunter – now a

Education

But how can universities incorporate this thinking into their
degree programs, in order to equip students to succeed in
today’s interconnected world?
“At Bond, we have adopted an atomistic approach to this
question,” says Mortley. “We examine the international content
of each subject – subject by subject – so that in the end, the total
program is scritinised with a view to its international content
and coverage.
“My personal view is that internationalisation is a perspective
that should be brought to bear on all subjects and programs,
arising out of the awareness of the staff teaching the programs,
each in their own specialist area.”
In addition, Hunter says the
exchange experience in Norway
taught her vital lessons about herself,
and “the knowledge and advantages
I gained by studying and travelling
overseas were crucial on two levels.
“Firstly, I was able to enhance my
skills base. This placed me ahead of
my peers. But more importantly, I was
able to determine what area of law
I wanted to specialise in, which helped
forge my career.”
Hunter’s fellow alumnus Cameron
Andersen also studied law at Bond,
and then moved to China to practice
in a local Shanghai firm before
switching careers to television
presenting. He says that gaining
David Millhouse
an international perspective during
his Bond University education was
“priceless and practical.”
Many professions today are not restricted to one country
and, instead, offer worldwide opportunities. By putting an
international spin on its subjects, Andersen says Bond “gives
people an understanding early on in their education that going
international is something they could do if they have the right
skills and personality for it.”
As a student, Mortley travelled to France for his postgraduate
studies. There, for the first time, he encountered the ‘continental
divide’ between the culture in France and his own AngloAmerican tradition, and “my monocultural presuppositions
were shattered.”
Consequently, Mortley has always tried to make his teaching
cross-cultural, investigating Asian traditions of philosophy as
well as Western traditions.
“I have also taught history over the years, and this is
a discipline in which cross-cultural comparisons can be
extremely enlightening, by way of either providing contrast
or familiarisation.”

company, MillhouseIAG, an international financial services
business that transforms emerging growth companies into
international corporations.
“It’s the reason we’ve been able to survive and grow,”
he says. “We are pretty much the only private equity fund
manager in Australia that does both domestic and international
investing. That’s very rare in this country.
“Typically you’re mandated to do either domestic or
international investments, but we think that in the private
equity space, that’s utter nonsense. You can’t do successful
private equity investing in a nation that only has 20 million
consumers: you’ve got to look where your end-use products
are going to be sold and used.”
Millhouse believes global understanding and respect are
so important to the success of his
company that he builds international
education on the liberal arts into the
company’s employee training program.
“If you’re doing business
internationally, you cannot possibly
do it successfully if you don’t have an
understanding of the other country’s
culture, history, politics, language, art
and so on,” he says.

If you’re doing
business internationally,
you cannot possibly
do it successfully if
you don’t have an
understanding of
the other country’s
culture, history, politics,
language and art

Underpinning business success

20

However, it’s not only the individual students who benefit from
global education in today’s universities. Many business leaders
rely on this understanding in their employees for their success.
In fact, Millhouse says a thorough understanding of the
‘interconnected world’ underpins the entire success of his own

The true mark of
great leaders

As the ‘globalisation trend’
continues and our world narrows,
an understanding of our global
interconnectedness – and its
implications – is likely to become one
of the truest marks of the world’s
great leaders.
“No business or political leader can
survive in a monoculture,” insists Mortley. “Vast changes in
immigration patterns mean that even within your own country
you are dealing with different languages and cultures. Even if
a business does not have international branches, it will still be
dealing with different cultures within the borders of its
own country.
“In addition, the globalisation of trade, ranging from
the management of intellectual property to the trading of
commodities or manufactured products, is really one of the
major themes of world development in our era.”
Millhouse agrees. “There’s far more to being a business leader
than some mechanistic skill set,” he says. “Certainly something
we practice long and loud at MillhouseIAG is to widen the
experience of our own staff so that they can understand all of
these other issues. At the end of the day, that’s what makes or
breaks a business.”
For example, employees at MillhouseIAG are required to
research and deliver seminars outside of their normal job role.
On a revolving basis, employees deliver seminars on
‘a prominent figure in world history’ of their choice.
They distil the lessons of what made that person who he or
she was: what made them successful in what they did, and
what lessons they can learn to contribute to a relevant strategy
for the business.
Says Millhouse, “The first consequence of this is that people
start to read more broadly, and they start to understand that all

six billion people in the world are different.” Moreover,
“a respect and understanding of difference is a starting point in
building a team. And without the team, you can’t build
the business.”

Escaping the degree
factory

euthanasia, abortion, pornography and native title; and finally,
students gain overall skills in either strategic management or
entrepreneurship.
Andersen is grateful for this approach. Technical job skills are
not enough, he argues. To be successful, professionals need
a broader cultural and artistic knowledge, particularly when it
comes to living and working overseas.
“If you’re not at one with the local
lifestyle, whether you’re in America,
Africa, China or Antarctica, you’re not
going to be able to do your job well,”
he says.
“When you come back from working
overseas, you are automatically dubbed
as an expert on that country. Not as
an expert in the industry, but an expert
on the country from the industry
perspective. You have to be a person
who knows not just the job aspect of
it, but the entire culture that you’re
immersing yourself in.”
Andersen believes his Bond University
education helped him develop the tools
to be open to other cultures. Bond, he says, “doesn’t necessarily
feel like you’re in Australia all the time.
“You’re in Australia, but there are Americans in your class,
and Chinese, and Indians, and Europeans… People with strong
accents. And you get an advanced look at what it’s like to live
overseas, and a better understanding of other cultures.”
But possibly the most important implication of the
globalisation of our marketplace – and consequently the
globalisation of our education – is that the trend may well
prevent war, according to Mortley.
“The recurrence of war is one of the most perplexing issues
in the history of the human race,” he says. “For this reason,
it is an important human duty to participate in the worldwide
marketplace.” Let the lessons begin.

By travelling overseas
for study, students
get a sense not only
of how big the world
is, but also of how
interconnected it is

“One of the great tragedies of the
modern education system is that
it has become a degree factory for
accountants and lawyers and doctors,”
Millhouse continues.
“As an employer, I’ve seen many
times when people have got sometimes
several university degrees in technical
disciplines but they can’t do anything.
You really have to unblock the
blockages created by school
Tina Hunter
and university.
“I think all university courses should
have a liberal arts and a science
component, and probably also a political economy component,
because without that, you cannot apply the technical knowledge
that you acquire.
“One of the distinguishing features of Bond is that it actually
does that. It mandates it for both undergraduate and
graduate levels.”
All undergraduate students at Bond University are required
to complete four core subjects early on in their degree. These
include communication skills, with a choice of subjects in
written or spoken communication; information technology
(IT), covering either concepts and theories of IT or the related
business applications; ethics, with a focus on either fundamental
ethical questions in the Western tradition, or some of the
political and legal controversies surrounding ethical law, such as

Global Bondies

Bond University is committed to providing a truly global
education, infusing each of its courses with both Australian
character and international perspective.
Bond actively promotes an understanding of and respect for
international cultures, as well as a recognition of the impact
this has on business, finance, the environment
and communities.
Almost half of Bond’s student body is international, and
these students together represent more than 80 countries.
In addition, students have the opportunity to further their
‘global education’ with a number of international exchange
and work experience activities:
•
•
•
•
•
•

The Arch went along to two recent Bond alumni events in New York and joined in
a chat about the value of alumni networks and what it means to be a Bondy.

ARCH: Why did you come along to the alumni event tonight?
JAMES: I have wonderful memories from Bond, I love that
place like nothing else. It was without question one of the
happiest times of my life. I’ll take any excuse to get back to that!
LOCKY: I thought it would be good to catch up with other
alumni, make some new friends, and run into people I’ve lost
touch with. This was my first event, but I plan to go to more,
both in New York and at other places
around the globe.

ARCH: What stands out about the Bond family?
JAMES: There was an unbelievable university spirit, whether it
was the staff encouraging you or your colleagues. Whatever you
wanted to do, they were like, “You go for that!”
LOCKY: Being a Bondy is being part of a wider community.
You’re not just a university alumnus. Bond is a place where
students, professors and support staff all know each other
on a first-name basis. I can still remember a time when I was
wandering across campus and I was stopped by Registrar Alan
Finch and introduced to a new staff member as “one of our
more colourful students.”
VICTORIA: Absolutely. Bond is a small school, so we’re
a tight-knit community. With Bondies, you can chat about the
Gold Coast, and that’s not something that the average New
Yorker is too familiar with. It doesn’t matter whether or not we
were in the same year. Bondies all get along.

It doesn’t matter
whether or not we
were in the same year.
Bondies all get along

ARCH: What purposes do alumni
networks serve?
JON: Alumni networks help bring
people closer together. I wouldn’t
have caught up with some of the
people that I have without the
alumni networks.
Victoria Cumings
VICTORIA: The alumni networks
are great for when you go to a new
city: you can have some contacts and
have some fun with people who have shared experiences with
you. I always have fun with Bondies.
ARCH: Do you plan on meeting up with Bondies again?
VICTORIA: I went to a few events in London, including one
with Professor Jim Corkery to watch James Smith’s show over
there. I’d love to go to more events here.
KIRSTEN: I’ve just moved from Dafur and there are no
alumni events there – yet – so this was my first. For me, alumni
meetings are more about getting together and hearing each
other’s news than networking.

ARCH: What is it about the Bond experience that ties you
all together?
BEN: It’s hard to say. I think for the people who started fairly
early, there’s a sense of having battled a lot to get to where they
are today. Otherwise, it’s the usual: shared experiences, happy
memories, beer.
KIRSTEN: I agree. Good memories, shared experiences –
JAMES: Tanya, who was here earlier, always describes Bond as
something special, the experience of going there.
VICTORIA: Hopefully we can get more organised and have
dinner every few months. Tanya is saying she’ll have us over to
her home!

ARCH: What are you doing in New York?
BEN: I moved here for my family, and work as an independent
trade economist and international development consultant.
JON: I’m in public relations and communications for an
international company called SweenyVesty.
KIRSTEN: I work for Oxfam International as a humanitarian
policy advisor, so I engage with UN security council and key
New York-based UN agencies.

Alumni

big city

NEW YORK-BASED comedian and Bond alumnus James

Smith is in a good mood. In fact, “absolute elation and
euphoria” is how he describes his feelings.
Inside the Comedy Cellar, a well-known standup venue in
Greenwich Village, New York, about 10 of Smith’s fellow
Bondies are waiting for him to take the stage. Outside, Smith
has just posed for the camera with none other than the funniest
of funny-men Jerry Seinfeld, who performed at the same venue
earlier that night.
“Nothing makes me happier than to work with these guys
at the pinnacle of their careers, and ask them questions. I am
notorious for asking questions,” he says.
“Because these are the things I dreamed of. I vividly remember
walking to work as a lawyer with Jerry Seinfeld on my discman, this was pre-iPod, listening to him and figuring out how
standup comedy worked. And now here we are. It’s surreal,
absolutely surreal.”

24

Funny-men: James Smith and Jerry Seinfeld

Smith studied law at Bond University and after he graduated,
tried his hand as a banking and finance attorney, a litigation
attorney and even did a little bit of intellectual property and
entertainment law, before throwing in the paperwork for the
bright lights of the New York comedy circuit.
“After I left university I practiced law and there was no outlet
for creativity or performing or anything like that. I really missed
it. I remember one day being out at Fox Studios in Sydney and
I was doing a contract for a film. And I remember thinking,
‘I don’t want to be doing the contracts, I’d rather be in the film.’
That was a bit of an ‘aha’ moment.”
But, “the real answer is that the lawyer was always the
performer,” he insists. He just got a little bit sidetracked.
“I sat in my office one day and I thought well, if I was able to
do anything in life, what’s the one thing I could do that would
be so enjoyable I’d do it for free? And I came to the conclusion
that it was public speaking. And then I thought, well, how do

The thing about
Bond… was that there
was such a phenomenal
support system. And so
much opportunity

Need a break?

WIN a $5000

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Exclusive to Bond alumni, we are offering the chance
for you to fly anywhere you like in the world with up
to $4000 worth of flights, and stay there on us, with
up to $1000 worth of accommodation.
To enter, simply send us your current contact details*.
Email your name, address, email address, home phone
number and mobile or cell number direct to alumni@
bond.edu.au, or visit our website www.bond.edu.au/
alumni-giving/alumni.

But wait, there’s more!

One Bondy (alumni only) can also win a deluxe wine
pack including three-dozen bottles of fine wine, a rack
to store them on and a Pictorial Wine Atlas, worth
$1200 in total.
To enter, post a photograph of yourself on the Alumni
Portal (www.alumni.bond.edu.au > My Profile) so your
fellow Bondies can see you today.

Full terms and conditions are published on the alumni portal at
www.alumni.bond.edu.au.
*Bond University is keen to stay in touch with you and will only use your contact
details for Alumni Program purposes, such as subscribing you to The Arch, inviting
you to alumni events, and informing you of Bond activities. We will protect your
privacy and will never sell your details to a third party.

Spring 2009

25

Bright lights,

you make money out of that? And I realised a lot of TV hosts
and personalities had backgrounds in public speaking. At the
same time, I noticed a number of lawyers had done what I was
considering: Steve Vizard was a laywer, and James O’Loughlin,
as were a number of members of the Australian ‘Working Dog’
production company which is responsible for movies like The
Castle and The Dish, and popular TV shows like The Panel.”
But even during his law studies, Smith says he always knew he
would be doing public speaking in some capacity.
“When I went to law school at Bond, I started getting
very involved in debating and public speaking. So Bond is
fundamental to what I’m doing now.
“While at Bond, I was selected for three Australasian debating
tournaments and two World Debating Championships, at
Princeton in the US and in Cork, Ireland. If I was at a university
with 40,000 other kids, I just don’t know that I would have
received that opportunity.
“The thing about Bond that everyone around me always
identified as significant was that there was such a phenomenal
support system. And so much opportunity. I could do the
comedy debating, I could host the residents’ dinner, I could host
the Law Ball.”
When Smith and
his fellow debaters
were selected to
participate in
a world
championship
tournament, it was
the broader Bond
community that
made it possible,
he says. “We were
trying to raise funds
and the Chancellor
at the time, Harry Messel, personally gave us $1000, and
persuaded other senior business leaders to do the same. Two
great benefactors at Bond, Dr John Kearney and the late Brian
Ray, also helped us out. The belief that the members of the
university community had in us was phenomenal.”
In fact, Smith believes that his years at Bond, which he
describes as “the absolute greatest time of my life,” are behind
his current choice of career.
“When I sat in that office as a lawyer and thought about the
one thing that would make me happy, I wanted to get back to
the exciting life I’d had at Bond. I thought, how can I get back
to that?”
Today, Smith’s life is nothing if not exciting. At the Comedy
Cellar, where he met with the Bondies on this night, he has
performed beside Robin Williams, Chris Rock and Jerry
Seinfeld. He’s toured with Arj Barker and John Mayer. He’s
performed at the famous Montreal Comedy Central, and was
a member of the line-up in the first standup comedy festival the
Middle East has ever seen, in Amman, Jordan, late last year.
Now, he is preparing for his first full-length TV special.
And at home in New York, a city he describes as ‘Disneyland
for adults’ (“the rides are always open, it’s on 24-7 and you can
eat as much junk food as you like”), Smith performs at up to
half a dozen comedy venues a night.
“I find Bond to be very similar to New York,” he says, “in that
there was always an opportunity for me to do something fun.
Bond was one of the greatest times of my life. Thanks to Bond,
I’ve been able to create that once again in New York.”

Alumni

News
Alumnus: Graeme Bliss

Job: Finance Manager, Laing O’Rourke
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Bondies are scattered across more than 100 different countries and get together at
local chapters in more than 20 nations worldwide. How do they remember their
time at Bond?

I live in the Middle East, and there is a huge cultural adjustment to make when
you move from Gold Coast to this part of the world!
Although Bahrain is quite relaxed and liberal compared with its next-door
neighbour Saudi Arabia, you have a much easier time fitting in if you keep the
bikini and short shorts for the private beach club.
Studying at Bond exposed me to other people from a variety of countries and
cultures, so it certainly helped to develop the ‘soft skills’ that I find so useful
working in another country.
If there are any alumni in this neck of the woods they are in Dubai, which is not
convenient to visit when you have a two-year-old. I do stay in contact with some
of my law school buddies by email and Facebook.

Alumnus: Alain Ruthenberg

My experience at Bond transformed me. It was such a mind opener that I would say pretty
much everything I did at Bond helped me get to where I am today.
Bond taught me how to work in multicultural groups, how to research, how to develop
a critical mindset, how to help others… and how to accept help! I met my mentor there. In my
personal life, Bond enabled me to discover the Australian way of life that I love: spirituality,
friendliness and at the same time such hard workers.
I have also been struck by how Australians are environmentally friendly and take care of the
environment they live in. Bond’s School of Sustainable Development is helping our hotel project.
I keep in touch with Bondies all over the world. After I moved back to New Caledonia I missed
this international mix of friends, so with a couple of other Bondies we are building an alumni
network in New Caledonia.
Now, my friends and I are in ‘baby time’ and we joke about how our own kids will do at Bond
and the parties they’ll attend around their studies.

Bond’s tri-semester year enabled me to travel extensively before and after university.
The programs were rigorous, and gave me the chance to focus more broadly than
I think I’d have had at other universities.
Today, the non-government organisation (NGO) I co-founded has more than
150 staff members, operations in eight countries across Asia and Africa, and reaches
a weekly television and radio audience of more than 14 million people.
This year I had to give training to Cambodian government officials on
communication and negotiation: even almost 15 years later, I was able to draw on the
Alternative Dispute Resolution training I received at Bond.
The biggest difference between life here and life in Queensland is the ocean
temperature. When the snow-melt comes downstream to the San Francisco Bay in
February and March, I get quite homesick for the Gold Coast beaches!

Job: Managing Director, Australia GO
Location: Gold Coast & Brazil

Totally 110 percent guilty as charged, Bond is responsible for my happiness today.
I studied financial investment but now I am in ‘educational investment’: every year,
we bring around 1000 international students to Australia. We are a registered agent
for Bond University, so I’m still very involved with Bond.
I’m friends with many other Bondies from Argentina, Denmark, Brazil, Indonesia
and India… It’s so easy to stay in touch using email, Skype, MSN and Facebook.
Vice-Chancellor Robert Stable has been of great support to my business, and is
one of the most incredible leaders Bond has ever had. Some of my Bond friends also
work with me in my business. The ties made while studying, playing sports and
spending time together created a trust that is only real in a close family.

Bond was a turning point in my life. Coming from a conservative Indian
society, I got to see a new face of life and people. Bond gave me the confidence,
independence and courage to fight for what I wanted. Bond also gave me the
education I had desired since my childhood, an education that in India just wasn’t
possible for a girl. In my work, Bond helped me gain the professionalism and
ability to work under pressure. Bond is the best part of my life.
I’m in touch with my Bond friends from all over the world, and we do meet up.
When I travel to another country, I contact my friends there.
The friends I made at Bond have become pals for life because we share the same
interests, the same experiences, and literally lived with each other for two years.
Spring 2009

27

Think back

There are a lot of differences between Riyadh and the Gold Coast: here there are no
bars, no nightclubs, women can’t drive, alcohol is banned, and my wife has to wear
a black cloak when she leaves the compound.
But we also have our fun. There is good social life inside the compound, and
hundreds of people attend the monthly Australian Embassy functions.
In my last semester at Bond I got a dreaded ‘pass’ when I should have done better.
Why? My colleagues marked me down and I had to accept the fact that they were
right: I hadn’t pulled my weight. That was a valuable lesson for the future, about
teamwork and success in the work environment.
The teamwork and entrepreneurial spirit that Bond was founded on is still alive
today, and it has carried the University through to all its successes.

Conversation

How to

spend an

inheritance
Bond benefactor Neil Balnaves gives generously to support Australian youth,
but he says you must never make your own kids too rich.

a philanthropist and a father. Not necessarily in that order.
A serious accident in 2002 gave him pause to go through what
he called a life-rethink. The result? He retired from his 40-year
media and entertainment career, sold the company, and used his
new ‘financial advantage’ to start the Balnaves Foundation
in 2006.
The Foundation now disperses more than $2 million a year
to support young Australians through education, medicine
and the arts. It gave Bond University the funds to build its
overwhelmingly-popular new Balnaves Multimedia Learning
Centre, a resource so cutting-edge in its use of technology and
space that it surprised even Balnaves himself when he first saw it.
ARCH: What motivated you to start the Balnaves Foundation?
I was lucky enough in business to come across mentors
who helped me in my own career, but were also very
philanthropically oriented. It was a bit of a natural rub-off,
I learned about philanthropy by association.
I was also always a bit of a believer in the concept that you
don’t make your kids too rich. Because it is not their money,
there is a risk that their initiative and self esteem will suffer. It
puts enormous pressure on them. So my wife and I felt there
was not a lot of sense in making our kids the beneficiaries of
everything we had.
We made a conscious decision that while we would maintain
the family, look after them, and have funds for if anything went
wrong, we would not to make them too rich. And the kids
wanted it that way too.
ARCH: With all three of your children serving as trustees of
the Foundation, would you call it a family initiative?

28

Well to put it in a tongue-in-cheek way, my thinking was I was
spending the kids’ inheritance so I supposed they’d better have
a say in it. That’s a little glib but the reality was it was their
inheritance, and they’d agreed to put it into the Foundation.

Traditionally, children inherit what you make. Our view was
since our children wouldn’t, they should be trustees in the
Foundation so they could have a view about how it was spent.
And really, the bigger issue is that by doing this, you’re
teaching a younger generation of Australians what philanthropy
is, by hands-on management. As trustees, they actively handle
grants, and just recently my son stepped up to become the
General Manager of the Foundation.
ARCH: The Balnaves Foundation made Bond’s new
Multimedia Learning Centre possible. Tell us a little about that.
It’s an interesting thing. We discussed it quite a bit, but I had no
concept of how cutting edge it was going to be until the day
I walked in to see it.
We’d all talked about how it was going to be, but what was
really stunning, what knocked my socks off, was when I walked
in there. I said, ‘This is even better than I could have expected!’
That was a real buzz for me. The execution, the idea of
consulting alumni, staff and students so it was something
that they were all personally involved in, I think that made
the Multimedia Learning Centre not an expression of outside
individuals, but the University’s own creation.
I suppose the next step in this theme is Bond’s University
Library that is being redeveloped now. In a sense, it will take
a leaf out of the book of the Multimedia Learning Centre by
including a heavy presence of electronic resources. Then in a few
years we’ll re-look at the Multimedia Learning Centre and it’ll
be game on again.
ARCH: Why is education, alongside medicine and arts, such
a major priority of the Balnaves Foundation?
Education is somewhere in the middle between medicine and
the arts, it crosses both areas.
You support a university’s medical school, that’s really
education with a medical twist. We do a lot of things with art
galleries and getting young people involved with art. Is that
education? Yes, I think it is.

Neil and Diane Balnaves

My concern is that Australia
can become more marginalised
because it does not have
a healthy, vibrant education
sector supported by
philanthropy. Australia needs
to have a view that the next
generations coming through
should be better trained in
whatever they’re going to do.
We’ll never lead in economic
terms, we’ll never be a leading
military power. But we can be, intellectually, a very, very clever
race of people.
This has a lot to do with making sure that the next generation
is, without fear or favour and right across the board of
economic situations, receiving its education evenly. At
a standard that is as good as it can be made.
In America you have a brilliant standard of university, but
accessibility to a lot of American universities is extremely
difficult. In Australia we have a much more open system.
And if we’re going to have the best universities, we’re going to
have to start providing for what we might not be able to access
under the government schemes.

Consulting alumni, staff and
students… made the Multimedia
Learning Centre not an expression
of outside individuals, but the
University’s own creation

ARCH: You’ve served on Bond’s
Council, made the Multimedia
Learning Centre possible, and
most recently donated two
Robert Klippel sculptures to
the University. What is it about
Bond University that inspires
your support?

There’s no two ways about it:
you don’t sit on the Council and
not have a passionate view about Bond University, and I was
extremely passionate about it.
I’m inspired by the fact that Bond University is private so it
has to work harder to get its funding. I’m inspired that it’s not
bogged down by a whole lot of top-heavy infrastructure, it’s
a lean, mean place. And I’m inspired that its academics
stuck with Bond through thick and thin: I have an absolute
admiration for them.
I’ve had a chance to look closely at a lot of other universities
around the world. I look at Bond and I see that it is a standalone, very special case.
What we must never do is break that mould.
Spring 2009

29

NEIL BALNAVES is a successful business leader,

News

Yes, (young)

News

Invest in a
sustainable future

Prime Minister
Two young leaders, 2009 Young Queenslander of the Year and Queensland Premier in the
Indigenous Youth Parliament, share something else in common: they are both Bondies.

TAKE A good look at these faces. One of them may be your future Prime Minister.
Ricky Macourt

Chiu-Hing Chan

At the inaugural Indigenous Youth Parliament during this
year’s National Reconciliation Week, Macourt was one of
40 young people to take part in the program, which was
designed to foster management and leadership skills.
Since joining Bond last year as the recipient of a Sunland
Foundation Scholarship, the 18-year-old Macourt has achieved
a First Class award for public speaking, lobbies extensively for
a permanent Indigenous Youth Advisory Committee in
parliament, coordinates the Indigenous Youth Leadership
program, is an Ambassador of the St Joseph’s Indigenous
Fund and a teacher’s aide at Varsity College, working with
disabled children.
He says he hopes his involvement
in the Indigenous Youth
Parliament and other
community forums
will inspire more Indigenous
youth and encourage other
Australians to “close the gap
on the many issues troubling
young people today.”
Not one to limit
his ambitions,
Macourt
intends to
become
Australia’s
first Indigenous
Prime Minister.

At only 25 years old, Chan has racked up an impressive suite
of achievements. He is a Chinese community spokesperson,
and acts in a number of influential roles including Chair of
the Cultural Advisory Committee for the
Fortitude Valley Chamber
of Commerce, and is the youngest
appointed President and Chair of the
Queensland Chinese Forum and the
Queensland Police Chinese Community
Crime Prevention and
Consultative Committee.
In addition, Chan was an
Executive of the Beijing
Olympic Committee for
the Queensland Olympic
Council; and is
Executive of the Gold
Coast Committee of
the Australian Institute
of Company Directors;
Vice Chairman of the
Visa 457 Joint Task
Force committee; the
incoming Ambassador
for White Ribbon
Australia and incoming
Board Executive for the
Australian Sugar
Industry Museum.

studied a double Bachelor of Laws and International
Relations as well as a Master of Journalism at
Bond University.

Chiu-Hing Chan, 2009 Young
Queenslander of the Year

Bond’s sustainable development building is both a place for learning and a lesson in itself.
Now, it is globally recognised as the world’s best in carbon-friendly and sustainable design.

THE WORLD’S population has not stopped growing since

the days of the Black Death in the 15th Century, and the planet is
now filled with close to 6.8 billion souls. More than 50 percent of us
live in cities, and that number is likely to rise to 70 percent in the next
30 years.
Such intense population growth generates serious challenges for our
future. Quality water is likely to become a problem, as will our very
food supply as cities encroach on farmland.
It is these issues that make it so important that the world’s future
architects, urban planners and developers learn how to factor ‘triple
bottom line’ sustainability (that is, economic, environmental and
social sustainability) into all aspects of their professional activities.
Triple bottom line thinking was behind Bond’s decision to open the
Mirvac School of Sustainable Development three years ago, and it
was once again brought to bear in the School’s awardwinning building.
Only a year old, the building is already attracting national and
international accolades.
It holds six-star Green Star accreditation and is the first education
building in Australia to achieve such a distinction. It won the coveted
‘Sustainability in the Built Environment’ award at the recent
2009 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Sustainable Industries
Awards, an event designed to showcase Queensland’s best and most
innovative sustainability practices.
And in October, it was recognised as the world’s best in carbonfriendly and sustainable design at the prestigious Royal Institute of
Chartered Surveyors (RICS) sustainability awards. The London-based
RICS is a world-leading authority on property construction and

quantity surveying, and just being nominated for - let alone
winning - the award was a win in itself.
“Finalists are published worldwide, so even if we hadn’t
won, what we’re doing at Bond in property, construction,
architecture and planning would still have been seen,” Earl says.
“Awards like these are important because they demonstrate that
sustainability does work.”
The building’s success is that it embraces every aspect of triple
bottom line thinking. And Earl says this is as much about good
design as it is about ecology.
“Although we’re doing great things in terms of alternative
water and power – we produce roughly 60 percent of our own
power through solar cells and we can effectively be off the grid
for water and sewer – the reason we’ve been able to do that is
that we’ve actually significantly reduced the demand for them,”
he says.
“We’ve designed a building that reduces the actual demand for
water, power and sewer by up to 70 percent.”
Meanwhile, the building’s appropriately named Living
Laboratory fulfils the social sustainability part of the triple
bottom line agenda, offering students and visitors access to
technologically sophisticated learning consoles and indooroutdoor social spaces.
Moreover, Earl says the building proves that sustainability
works economically.
“One of the biggest drawbacks to sustainability in Australia
is that people perceive it to be gimmicky, and think it will cost
them money. What this building has shown is that sustainability
is a good investment. It has good payback.”
Spring 2009

31

is studying law at Bond University. Earlier this year, he
had a taste of what life would be like as
Queensland Premier.

AUSTRALIA’S
*

HIGHEST RATING UNIVERSITY

Bond University is Australia’s highest rating university
after earning the most five-star ratings in the 2010
Good Universities Guide.